In wood frame building construction the common practice for installing electical outlet boxes is to nail the box to a stud with a projection beyond the stud which will meet the dimension of the outside surface of the finished wall, usually what is refered to as sheetrock or wall board, which may vary in thickness. The same is true with respect to metal studs in commercial and industrial buildings except that screws are used to secure the boxes to formed metal or other non-wooden studs.
Therefore, the electrician or his helper installing the boxes must correctly position the boxes in accordance with the specified thickness of the finished wall, as well as the usual heights for boxes for switches and boxes for female wall plugs.
In recent years the use of plastic outlet boxes with diagonally directed securing nails or screws has grown. However, when nails or screws are diagonally directed the direction of the nails tends to move the box from a predetermined position and it is difficult to maintain the position of the box with respect to a stud and the thickness of the wall to be installed.
In some cases wooden studs do not have square corners, that is a portion of a corner is missing due to a knot or other abnormality in the wood when it is milled. This may occur at the heights where boxes are conventionally installed.
A tool embodying the invention is constructed to hold a box against a side surface of a stud for attachment thereto even though the corner of the stud is not square.
Many tools have been proposed for the positioning of electrical utility boxes as exemplified in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,956,798; 2,962,281; 2,990,172; 3,751,026; 3,875,669; 3,954,717; 4,12,941; 4,181,295; 4,635,372; 4,750,271; 4,850,115; 4,888,879; 4,901,447; and 5,072,523.
However, most of these tools have been of fabricated construction and none of these tool types have been known to have been acceptable to installers.
Accordingly the present invention is intended to provide a tool for installing an electrical utility box which is of new and improved construction and which is simplified in use.
An object of this invention is to provide a new and improved tool for locating and installing an electical utitility box.
Another object of this invention is to provide a tool for locating, positioning and installing an electrical outlet box which tool is of simplified construction and easy for an installer to use.
A further object of this invention is to provide a tool of the type described which is very durable in construction and will stand up and be serviceable after many uses in any environment.
A still further object of this invention is to provide a tool for positioning and holding an electrical outlet box against a stud for attachment thereto even though the stud may have abnormalities at the corner where the box is to be installed.